The X Shape Shifter
by I Hate Snatch Steal
Summary: Miles Powers had a normal life... until he moved to Bayville and discovered he had the mutant power to shape shift into his favorite fictional characters. However his power may be strong enough to attract unwanted attention. (This Story doesn't follow any specific X-men evolution season's plot.)
1. Chapter 1

Miles Powers was living a normal life. However that all started to change when he turned 15. His family had to move to Bayville due to financial strain caused by his late grandfather's debts so sadly, he had to leave his old home and friends behind. He didn't fault his parents for the move, he knew it wasn't their choice. He only wished his grandfather had been more careful with money. Despite the support his parents gave him, there was one negative thing that Miles still felt, loneliness. He didn't have any friends in Bayville and because he was interested in computer and video games that most people his age would scorn as children's games, namely Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon, he didn't think he'd make any friends anytime soon.

One night Miles had stayed up late playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game. He'd been trying to get an S rank in one of Tails's stages, and his favorite Sonic character, Tails, was still on his mind as he'd gone to bed. Miles had a strange dream. He dreamed that he was walking around Mobius in the form of Tails. Then his namesake tails started to hurt. The pain got worse over time, then things started to fade like they normally do when a dream ends, but the pain remained. Miles opened his eyes to see the ceiling in his room, but what was that weird pain? It felt as if he was lying on an appendage, but his arms were at his sides, so what was going on? He sat up and reached for the switch for his bedside lamp. It seemed further away than usual. As he fumbled with it, he noticed it felt like he had gloves on somehow. The light came on and Miles drew a surprised breath as he looked at himself, except that he wasn't himself: he was Tails. "This can't be real" he said aloud, and was shocked to find out that not only did he look like Tails, he sounded like him too! He got out of bed an massaged his aching namesakes. After a while he noticed his desktop computer that had failed shortly after the move. Something in him took over and he eagerly opened the computer's casing. In a few minutes he'd fixed the computer. He tried the power button and the machine turned on and ran without trouble. After putting the computer in sleep mode, Miles yawned so he figured it would be best to go back to bed. He lay on his side so that he wouldn't sleep on his tails again.

Miles woke to sunlight streaming into his room and his mother calling "Miles, breakfast!" He felt like himself, just a little groggier than usual. He quickly dressed and came downstairs. "You slept in later than usual" his mother told him, "Is everything ok?" Miles thought back to the previous night's events and replied, "I'm fine, I just had some weird dreams." As they ate breakfast Miles couldn't help but feel that the part of the dream where he fixed the computer seemed strangely solid in his mind, and the setting seemed just like his room would be during the night. Then he thought about the fact that he was a two tailed mobian fox for that part and decided that it was just an unusually vivid dream.

Since it was a weekend and he'd finished his homework on Friday, Miles decided to go play some video games in his room. However once he was up there, a blinking light caught his eye. His desktop computer's power light was blinking. He thought it had to be a trick of the light. However he took another step and saw the light blink again from a different angle. Miles decided he'd press the power button on the computer, just to see what would happen. He was very surprised when the machine whirred to life as it woke up. It sounded quieter than usual, but it was definitely running. "Weird" he said to himself, "Was that really just a dream?" A few scenes from his uncle's comic collection about super heroes discovering their powers flowed through his mind. He jokingly decided that he'd try to trigger his powers, not truly believing that he had any since after all the computer may have simply not started all those other times he tried out of pure coincidence.

Miles closed his eyes and focused what it was like to be Tails, based on his dream, and he thought of himself as Tails. His body suddenly felt different. He opened his eyes to see that his room looked bigger. He looked down at himself and saw the fur, gloves, and sneakers that he'd seen last night. He felt the presence of his tails again, so he turned his head and saw them. He could even move them just like his arms and legs. Somehow, he also knew how to use them to fly. So he flew onto his bed experimentally and couldn't help but yell out "I love this!" The excitement was short-lived, because then Miles's sensitive fox ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming towards his room. He frantically thought about being his human self again. His body glowed and a grew to normal size just before his mother walked into his room. "I heard a strange voice" she said, she didn't notice the computer running because of its position relative to her. Miles thought of an excuse and sheepishly replied, "I was practicing my impressions, I guess I got carried away" His mother got the feeling that Miles wasn't telling her the whole story, but decided not to force the issue. Meanwhile at the Xavier institute, Cerebro had just detected a new mutant, Miles Powers.


	2. Chapter 2

For the rest of the day, Miles experimented with his new power. He found that he could turn into various fictional characters, but not into anything real like politicians. Miles went to bed after explaining that he'd been in his room playing video games all day. As he was about to leave for school the next morning, the doorbell rang. His mother answered it. Outside was a bald man in a wheel chair. He was modestly dressed but his clothes were clean as if he'd come for an interview. "How may I help you" Miles's mother asked. The bald man replied, "Good morning Mrs. Powers, my name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I've come to offer your son Miles a spot in the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters" Miles's mother looked confused, but she was polite enough to make it hard to spot. After a moment, she replied, "I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong family. Miles gets good grades, but I wouldn't say he's gifted." Professor X frowned as if in thought then replied, "The term gift implies a wide variety of talents. We take more than just good students. Unusual gifts are wholly welcomed there." Miles's mother didn't seem to be understanding what he was hinting at, then a suspicion hit him. Professor X did a brief scan of her mind to be sure, and confirmed the flaw he'd suspected in his approach: Miles hadn't told his parents about his power yet. Professor X turned to leave and said, "If you change your mind, my contact info is on here." as he handed her a card. Miles had heard the whole conversation, and he couldn't just dismiss it as a coincidence.

Later that day at school, Miles was having a hard time focusing. He couldn't get the events of the weekend and morning out of his mind. He'd dismissed the comic book driven idea that Professor X was a government agent coming to take him away so he could be used as a weapon; if that were the case, Professor X wouldn't have asked to have him, he'd have used force. Miles barely noticed a girl walk up to him until she said, "Are you ok? You like look a little lost" Miles put his thoughts aside and replied, "I'm fine, I just have some things on my mind." The girl smiled at him and walked away. He felt like he's seen her around school before. Then he remembered her name, Kitty Pryde. She hung out with a guy who had dyed his hair blue and had strange personal space issues, a girl that always wore gloves, a girl with red hair and a guy with red sunglasses. Miles had heard rumors that the red sunglasses were for an eye condition. He had wondered in the past how a motley group like that could possibly form, and how they seemed to fit so well together. It was almost time for his next class, so Miles stopped pondering and got ready.

At lunchtime, Miles got his food and found a vacant table to eat at. The weather was nice so most students were eating outside, thus there was plenty of empty space. He was surprised to see Kitty walk over and join him. "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kitty Pryde" she said and offered a hand. Miles shook it and replied, "Miles Powers". A few minutes into their meal Miles couldn't help but wonder why Kitty was sitting with him when she already had a bunch of friends. However he wasn't stupid enough to ruin a chance to get to know someone. His thoughts were interrupted by Kitty asking him, "I don't remember seeing you around before, did you just transfer in?" Miles replied, "My family moved to Bayville about two weeks ago, how about you?" Kitty casually explained, "I used to live with my parents, but then I got accepted to the Xavier institute and moved here." Miles replied, "The Xavier institute? You mean the place in Bayville Professor Xavier owns?" Kitty nodded and Miles continued, "It's kind of funny that you'd say that. Professor Xavier himself came to offer me a position there this morning. He talked about the place being for gifted people as if I was one of them."

Kitty considered what to do and say at this point. It was her first time recruiting someone and she didn't want to mess up. After hearing Professor X's report from the morning, the X-men had agreed to not all talk to Miles at once for fear of alarming him. Professor X had explained the situation to those he felt would make good ambassadors. After hearing the briefing Kitty had volunteered to speak first since she felt that Miles would be more comfortable with someone who wasn't a big name at Bayville high the way Jean was, and she had a sense of what he might be going through. Based on his school reports, Miles seemed like a nice down to earth guy, not a trouble maker like Kurt, so she decided that the best way to gain Miles's trust was to prove that she trusted him. "Kitty? You in there?" Miles asked, shaking her out of her thoughts. "Yeah" she replied, "I was just thinking about whether or not I should show you something, and I've decided I will, but it's like a big secret." She took a quick look around to make sure they were alone and then she reached her hand towards her book bag, Miles's eyes widened has her hand passed through the outside of the bag and came out with a notepad. Miles realized his mouth was opened and closed it quickly. "How'd you do that?" he asked. Kitty giggled at the surprised expression and replied, "Moving through solid objects is a gift I have." Kitty looked like she was thinking and then continued, "When I first discovered I had this power, I thought it was a curse and didn't know what to do with myself. Then I met Professor X and he helped me live with it." Miles thought over what he'd just heard: it was quite possible that word of his transforming ability had gotten out somehow given what Professor Xavier had said earlier. However Kitty seemed very genuine in her demeanor. Also, he did want to make friends. He finally decided that he'd trust Kitty the way she'd trusted him. Kitty looked like she was waiting for him to speak so Miles replied, "I have something important to show you, but I don't want to show it here. Can you come over to my house after school? It's not far so we can walk home together" Kitty nodded.

After the final bell rang Kitty and Miles walked to Miles's house. Right before they entered Miles told Kitty, "Since I haven't told my parents my secret either, I'm going to say you've come to see my video game collection." Kitty was now almost certain that this secret was Miles's mutant power but she didn't dwell on for long and just nodded. After quick introductions to Miles's mother, Miles led Kitty to his room and closed the door. "This is my secret" he said and focused on being Tails. Kitty noticed Miles's body glow and change shape. She blinked and in front of her was a two-tailed fox. It had gloves and sneakers and was standing on its hind legs. It seemed to be almost identical to one on a nearby poster that read "Miles 'Tails' Prower". Kitty studied him and replied, "Cute" which made Miles blush under his fur. He was very surprised that she was so calm about his transformation. He turned back into himself and said, "I've been able to do this since two nights ago." Then a big question hit him. He looked at Kitty and asked, "Not to sound ungrateful for your trust, but since you only just met me, why did you trust me with your secret?" Kitty looked like she was cornered. Miles noticed and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Kitty replied, "No offense taken, it's a fair question. The truth is that Professor X has a machine that detects people with gifts like ours and his institute is a place for those people to live with their gifts." Miles responded, "So his machine detected my transformation and he came to recruit me?" Kitty responded, "Recruit isn't the right word. He just wants to give you a nice place to live with others like us. Living at the mansion is like really cool".

Miles thought it over: Kitty had been nice to him and he liked the idea of being among people who had gifts like his. He was about to ask when he could move in when he realized that his parents didn't know about his power. He didn't want them to feel like he was abandoning them, which they'd surely think if he left them without giving a reason. "I'd like to come to the institute, but I haven't told my parents about this yet. I don't know what they'll say and I don't want to leave without telling them something." he replied and ended with a question, "What should I tell them?" Kitty thought it over and said, "Tell and show them the truth. It might be like hard for them to deal with at first, but they'll come around". At that moment they heard the front door open and close and faintly heard a male voice say "Honey I'm home early". Miles decided that he didn't want to put off telling his parents. They'd always been there for him and he'd always been honest with them. However he was a little nervous since it's not every day you have to tell your parents that you have super powers. "Mind helping me break the news to them?" Miles asked. "I'd be glad to" Kitty replied.

Miles and Kitty walked into the family room of his house. Miles's father noticed Kitty and asked, "Did you make a new friend already?" Miles nodded, then his expression became more serious. "Mom, Dad, there's something we need to talk about." he said, "Should we wait until after your guest leaves?" Miles's mother asked. Miles shook his head and continued, "She's involved in this too." Miles's parents wondered what their son could possibly be about to say. Miles struggled with how to begin and said, "Since two nights ago, there's something I haven't told you: I recently discovered that I have a gift, a special power. I wasn't sure what to do when I first found out but then I met Kitty and she showed me that she has a gift too." He paused and studied his parent's faces. They seemed worried and confused. His mother spoke up, "What do you mean by a special power?" Miles replied, "Its better if we show you" and he changed into Tails while Kitty phased through a chair. After giving his parents a few seconds to look, Miles reverted to human form and said, "This is what I'm talking about. The Xavier institute accepts people with gifts like mine, and I'd like to live there." Kitty spoke up, "I know it's a lot to take in, my parents were pretty freaked when they found out about my power." Miles's parents looked shocked. The awkward silence after Kitty spoke seemed like it would stretch on forever. Eventually his father spoke, "We-we need a few minutes to discuss this son. Why don't you and Kitty go outside" his voice sounded nervous. Miles and Kitty walked outside and Miles couldn't help but ask, "Will Professor X have me even if my parents throw me out?" Kitty replied, "Yes he definitely will, but I wouldn't give up on your parents yet."

Meanwhile inside the house, Mr. and Mrs. Powers were discussing what they'd just heard. "I don't know what to do with him now," Mr. Powers said, inwardly he was afraid because he'd never even heard of anything like this before, "Should we call the police?" Mrs. Powers replied, "How can you say that? He's probably just as surprised and scared about this as we are, but he's still our son. Didn't we promise him that we'd always love him no matter what happened? He even felt that he could open up to us about this. If we abandon him now he'll never trust us again." Mr. Powers opened his mouth, then closed it again. He'd been about to argue back when he'd realized his wife was right. He finally said, "Point taken. As for the Xavier institute I think we should look into it. After all, who else do we know who has experience with these gifts?"

Mr. Powers opened the door and beckoned Miles and Kitty in. Miles looked nervous, but when his Dad spoke the tone reassured him, "I'm glad you felt you could trust us enough to tell us about this son. We're going to check out the Xavier institute, and it sounds like it's a good fit, I say we send you there." Mrs. Powers replied, "I'm glad you came to us about this and I agree with your father" Miles gave a warm smile and nodded. Then his mother went looking for Professor X's card.


	3. Chapter 3

At their rundown house, the members of the brotherhood were in bad shape. Not only did the X-men keep them from gaining anything with their powers, they also were running very low on money. "Man, if only Mystique had given us some cash before she'd vanished ." Lance (AKA avalanche) complained."This place could use some new chairs" Fred (AKA The Blob) added. "Yeah, I almost wish she'd come back so I could get a decent meal for once." Pietro (AKA quicksilver) complained. "Well she ain't coming back, so tough." Todd (AKA Toad) finished. A female voice replied, "Is that so?" The four of them turned to see their old mentor, Mystique. "I have an assignment for all of you" she said calmly. "Yeah, why should we work with you again?" Lance asked angrily. "I heard you were low on cash. If you complete my assignment, I can pay you handsomely. I'll even throw in a little bonus just for taking on the task." All eyes were now on Mystique and Lance asked, "What's the job?"

The next morning as Miles went through his school day, he wondered what life at the Xavier institute would be like, assuming his parents approved of sending him there. Lunch break came and after he got his food he noticed Kitty waving from a nearby table for him to come over. Seated at the table were some of the people he'd seen Kitty hang out with before. More specifically the guy with the red glasses, his apparent girlfriend who had red hair, and the blue haired guy. Miles brought his food over and as he approached Kitty said, "Hi Miles. I thought you could sit with us today." Miles replied, "Sure" and sat down. Then he added, "I'm Miles Powers, and I don't think I've met all of you yet." The red glasses guy extended a hand, and said "Scot Summers", Miles shook it. His next hand shake came from Jean Grey. Miles was about to offer his hand to the final person when he spoke up, "Sorry, not big on handshakes. I'm Kurt Wagner." After they had been eating for a bit, Jean spoke up. "I heard you've been accepted to the Xavier institute." Miles nodded and said, "How'd you know?" Jean replied, "I know because I live there, we all do." She gestured at the other people sitting at the table as she said the last part. Miles said, "I hope my parents like it so I can live there too" but really wanted to ask "Does that mean you all have special powers?" However he figured it would be best no to pry. Jean spoke again. "Yes, we all have special gifts, if you're wondering about that". The conversation soon turned to other topics and Miles saw another group of people seated at the opposite end of the cafeteria. One of them looked like a sumo wrestler. Had he looked up a few minutes earlier he'd have noticed that they were stealing glances at him.

Miles said goodbye to his new friends and started to walk home. It wasn't a long walk, but he decided to take a shortcut through a normally deserted park. He was wrapped up in a good mood from meeting new friends so he didn't notice that he was being followed until a cocky voice said "Going somewhere?". Miles turned around and saw four people standing behind him. Or more accurately, two were standing, one's large size made it more accurate to say he was hulking, and one was crouching in a frog-like position. Since he knew what was about to happen, Miles turned and ran. One of the two normal looking people, this one had silver hair, was in front of him in a second. "Your coming with us weather you like it or not." he said quickly. Miles now knew that these weren't normal people, but yet again, neither was he. He placed his backpack on the ground and said, "Your fast..." as his body started to glow and change shape, "but are you the fastest thing alive?" he finished in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The silver haired guy looked angry and ran at him, but with Sonic's speed Miles easily sidestepped it and ran off. His adversary was in hot pursuit, but only because Miles was doing Sonic's version of a leisurely jog. Miles let his assailant chase him for a bit, then abruptly accelerated and spin dashed into his foe's leg. The silvery haired guy was sent flying and landed on his chest. He tried to get up but stopped abruptly when he tried to put weight on his now injured leg. The other normal looking guy's expression was a mixture of shock and anger. "Try running now!" he said and thrust out his hands. As he did, the ground started to shake violently. Miles changed his form again and used Tails's twin tails to take to the sky. The presumed leader of the group looked left and then right: he's been so busy focusing on creating the earthquake that he's lost track of Miles. However he only looked up in time to see a blur of orange streaking towards him. He covered his face with his hands, but Miles's twin tails struck his right arm and right wrist with a loud crack. The shaking stopped as its creator doubled over in pain from a badly bruised arm and a broken wrist. Miles felt someone grab him by the arm and lift him off the ground. He turned his head and saw the hulking sumo had grabbed him. "I've got you now you rat! Be glad we want you alive or I'd flatten you!" He yelled. There was another glow, and now instead of Tails the Fox, the hulking sumo was holding Blaze the Cat. Miles used Blaze's pyro-kinetic powers to make his body very hot. His captor yelped and dropped him. Miles could see burn marks all over his foe's right hand. Finally only the frog posture guy was left. Miles formed fire in his hands and said "Want more? Or am I too hot for you to handle?" The final assailant's response was to jump away like a toad. The earth shaker suddenly said "Let's get out of here!" The sumo grabbed the silver haired guy and those that were able to do so ran.

Miles arrived home to see his parents waiting for him inside. His Dad said, "We looked at the institute today and we liked it. Professor Xavier says you can move in tomorrow." Miles replied, "That's great. I met some new friends today who also go there." He didn't want to mention the fight he'd had for fear of alarming his parents. Miles made a mental note to ask Professor X, as the others called him, about who those people that tried to kidnap him were. He wasn't worried about them coming back though since he was sure he's scared them off.


	4. Chapter 4

Scott and Jean had just gotten out of Scott's car and were about to walk into Bayville high when they saw the members of the brotherhood were arriving as well. However something caught both X-men's attention: All the members of the brotherhood except Todd had an injury of some sort. Lance's right hand was in a cast and Fred was carrying Pietro in one hand and had a set of crutches under his arm. His other hand had bandages on it. Pietro had a cast on his leg so the crutches were presumably for him. Jean faintly heard Fred say "Remember, I carried you here so you had better help me with my burn lotion later" After they were out of earshot, Jean asked Scott: "I wonder what happened to them?" Scott replied, "I don't know, but I hope those injuries really hurt."

Evan Daniels (AKA Spike) had barely made it to his first class on time, but the teacher was late so it didn't matter. After he sat down. Pietro hobbled into the room via a set of crutches. Evan couldn't pass up the chance to taunt his rival. "Who's faster now Pietro?" he sneered. "Shut up!" was the best retort Pietro could come up with. Spike smirked and said, "Or you'll what? Hobble after me on your crutches?" Pietro was saved from having to reply when the teacher walked in.

At lunch time, Miles shared the good news that his parents had agreed to him joining the institute with his new friends, and met some more of the X-men, as Scott explained that they were called. Namely Rouge and Evan. Scott offered to drive him over to the mansion but Miles declined, citing that he wanted to go to his house to help with the move.

Scott was walking towards his car when he saw Fred walking in his general direction. Fred's expression was threatening and showed that he was angrier than usual. Scott increased his pace a bit but Fred got between him and his car anyway. "Hey Slim! Going Somewhere?" Fred half taunted, half yelled. Scott was unsure of how to respond. The parking lot was deserted, but his power was useless against The Blob. The situation was about to escalate when Fred heard a familiar voice say "Don't play with fire unless you want to get burned." Fred and Scott turned to see Miles had emerged from between two parked cars. Fred's expression changed quickly, then he walked away faster than usual with a sneer of, "You got off easy this time slim!" Miles realized that he had done something conspicuous so he quickly said "I've got to run or I'll be late for my move." and quickly walked away. Scott just stood there and thought "What was up with that?"

Miles arrived at his house and saw a black van parked outside. As he got closer he also saw Professor X was there talking to his parents, while a buff looking man was loading suitcases into the van. His father noticed him coming and said "Hi Miles. Professor X and one if his friends came to help us with your move." The buff man stopped and walked over. Miles extended a hand in greeting. The man shook it and Miles said, "I'm Miles Powers" the man simply replied, "Logan". Miles went up to his room and started putting video games in a bag. Logan walked in and said, "You need any help with that PC of yours?" Miles nodded. After they'd stowed the computer and games, Miles just had to grab his TV. He carried it over to the stairs and realized that it would be awkward to carry it down. So he shape shifted into Tails and flew it downstairs instead. Miles was almost at the door when Logan opened it and walked in. Miles set the TV down and changed back into himself with a sheepish look. After saying goodbye to his parents he got into the van and departed.

While they were en-route to the mansion, Miles remembered his question for Professor X. "Professor X?" he said as if posing a question, then he caught himself and added, "Is it ok if I call you that?" "Yes it is" Professor X replied. Miles continued, "I have an important question for you. Is now a good time?" he looked at Logan as he said the last part. Professor X caught his meaning and replied, "Any question you can trust me with you can trust Logan with as well." Then Miles tried to figure out how to phase his concern, he decided to start with a question. "Are there other groups of gifted people out there and are there some with criminal intentions?" Professor X replied, "Yes there are... I'm curious, why do you ask?" Miles felt cornered but continued anyway, "I had a run in with such a group yesterday." Professor X looked concerned and said "Tell me what happened". Miles recounted his fight with the brotherhood. "... and after I used Blaze's fire powers to create fire in my hands, they ran away." Logan's expression was hard to read, but he said, "Not bad Foxy, you beat four of them at once." Professor X frowned because he was deep in thought, however Miles mistook it as anger. "I didn't want to do harm, but I worry what would have happened to me if I hadn't fought back." he said quickly. Professor X's expression changed and he said, "You handled yourself just fine Miles, I'd have only been worried if you wanted to do more harm then was necessary." Telepathically to Logan he continued, "What worries me is why the brotherhood was after him." Logan frowned and silently replied, "That didn't seem to me like an attempt at a simple mugging."


End file.
